Mobile networks are being used to connect all sorts of devices; automated reading of utility meters, intelligent connectivity of cars and commercial vehicles to enable drivers to access navigation, infotainment or breakdown services, traffic lights, home security and assisted living.
A subscriber identity module or subscriber identification module (SIM) is an integrated circuit chip that is intended to securely store the international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) number and its related key, which are used to identify and authenticate subscriptions on the devices. The SIM circuit is part of the function of a Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC) physical smart card. Traditional SIM cards are predicated on only associating with one network operator.
The GSM Association (GSMA), where GSM is short for Global System for Mobile communications, has released a technical specification denoted SGP.22—RSP defining remote SIM provisioning for consumer devices and a technical specification denoted SGP.02 disclosing a remote provisioning architecture for Embedded UICC (eUICC), which targets machine-to-machine (M2M) type communications devices. In short, the operator uses an entity called SM-DP+/SM-DP (short for Subscription Management—Data Preparation) for creation of SIM profiles that are later installed from the SM-DP/SM-DP+ to the eUICC. For the consumer devices, the profile is installed through a Local Profile Assistant (LPA) on the consumer device to the Issuer Security Domain Profile (ISD-P) on the eUICC in the device. For the M2M devices, the SM-DP installs the profile via a separate (external) entity, SM-SR, to the ISD-P on the device.
Both above mentioned variants have the device owner obtaining a subscription for the device from the operator by providing the operator with relevant information about the device to be provisioned, optionally including eUICC ID (EID) and International Mobile Station Equipment Identity (IMEI). The subscription can be obtained from a point of sales, via a web page of the operator, or other similar methods. Section 3.1 in SGP.22 describes the profile download initiation process. It shows how the user orders a subscription from the operator, and how the operator asks the SM-DP+ to generate the matching profile. Then the operator provides the user with an activation code (AC) that the user can insert into/provide to the device to be provisioned. The device can extract the relevant information (SM-DP+ reachability information, etc.) from the activation code and then proceed to contact the SM-DP+ for downloading the profile based on the AC after mutual authentication and various security functions.
The process of ordering the subscription/profile from the operator comprises the user to provide billing information and optionally the EID, and/or the IMEI. Billing information implies providing identification and authentication of the user as well as possibly providing other billing related information such as the address and a credit card number of the user.
According to the above, the user will have to provide the billing information each time a subscription for a new device is added. However, if the user deploys multiple devices at the same time the operator can potentially provide an interface from which the user can order multiple subscriptions with one set of billing information. Regardless if the devices are added one by one, or many at a time, the user optionally also has to provide the device information for each device to the operator. The benefit of providing this information is that the operator can verify the type of device and verify that there is a profile type that is suitable to it. If a web form is used, the user enters the EID and IMEI codes into the appropriate fields. Already for one device, this can seem cumbersome as the EID and IMEI are quite long strings/numbers that need to be entered manually.
Hence, there is still a need for improved mechanisms for remote provision of devices.